Background to this inspection
Updated
18 May 2022
The inspection
We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Health and Social Care Act 2008.
Inspection team
The inspection was carried out by an inspector and an Expert by Experience. An Expert by Experience is a person who has personal experience of using or caring for someone who uses this type of care service.
Service and service type
This service is a domiciliary care agency. It provides personal care to people living in their own houses and flats
The service had a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that they and the provider are legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.
Notice of inspection
We gave the service 48 hours’ notice of the inspection. This was because it is a small service and we needed to be sure that the provider or registered manager would be in the office to support the inspection.
What we did before the inspection
We reviewed information we had received about the service since their registration with CQC. The provider was not asked to complete a Provider Information Return (PIR) prior to this inspection. A PIR is information providers send us to give some key information about the service, what the service does well and improvements they plan to make. We used all this information to plan our inspection.
During the inspection
We spoke with seven people and three relatives via telephone about their experience of the care provided. We visited the provider’s office on 4 April 2022 to speak to the registered manager, the operations director and review records, policies, audits and care plans. We spoke to eight staff via telephone between 25 March and 1 April 2022.
After the inspection
We continued to seek clarification from the provider to validate evidence found.
Updated
18 May 2022
About the service
The service was a domiciliary care agency which provided personal care services to people living in their own home. There were 22 people using the service at the time of the inspection.
Not everyone who used the service received personal care. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do we also consider any wider social care provided.
People’s experience of using this service and what we found
People told us they were happy with the care they received. They said that the quality of the service had recently improved after the provider had made changes to the service’s management structure. This included improvements around consistency of staff and the timing of calls.
The registered manager oversaw two of the provider’s branches. There was an organised structure of senior staff in place to oversee the running of the service, all of whom had a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities.
The registered manager was focused on making continuous improvements to the service. This included developing their electronic care planning system to improve how auditing and quality assurance was carried out.
There were systems to enable office staff to monitor the quality of care responsively, using an electronic care planning system. This included the monitoring of care calls, care notes, incident reports and medicines administration.
People received personalised care in line with their needs. People were involved in developing and making decisions about their care. Their care plans were clear and concise, detailing the support they required and their preferred routines.
Risks related to people’s health and medical conditions were assessed and reduced. Staff were pro-active in identifying emerging risks and changes in people’s health and wellbeing. Staff were confident in making referrals to professionals and carrying out their instructions for ongoing care.
There were enough staff in place and new referrals were carefully managed to ensure there was sufficient staffing capacity in place to meet people’s needs. The provider had appropriate recruitment processes in place to help ensure suitable staff were employed.
Staff were motivated in their role and spoke positively about the support they received from the registered manager and senior staff. People and relatives told us their care needs were met and they were treated with respect and kindness. Staff had a good rapport and relationship with the people they supported.
The provider and registered manager understood the importance of supporting staff with good quality training. This included training and support related to their role and opportunities to promote their professional development. The provider had a proven history of developing staff to enable them to progress to more senior roles in the service.
There were policies and procedures in place to protect people from the risk of suffering abuse or coming to avoidable harm. There were systems in place to ensure incidents were appropriately reported, recorded and reflected upon.
People were supported to have maximum choice and control of their lives and staff supported them in the least restrictive way possible and in their best interests; the policies and systems in the service supported this practice.
For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk
Rating at last inspection
This service was registered with us on 17 March 2022 and this is the first inspection. This service was previously registered at a different location which had not been inspected.
Why we inspected
This service had not previously been inspected and we wanted to check people were receiving safe care and support
Follow up
We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service, which will help inform when we next inspect.